


Country Night

by TooMuchTimeinSpace



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, M/M, Teenagers, boys falling in love, but being stubborn about it, no powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 22:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15616710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooMuchTimeinSpace/pseuds/TooMuchTimeinSpace
Summary: During the summer of 1989 Tony goes on a cross country road trip, but ends up with a flat tire in Nebraska. Stephen Strange comes to his aid.





	Country Night

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here's my story for the Ironstrange Big Bang event. I'm excited to finally post it. Thank you to my beta @hail-the-red-queen on tumblr and my artist @cosmiccucumber also on tumblr.

A lone car sped down a dirt road, bumping across the uneven terrain. It left a cloud of dust in its wake that lingered in the hot, dry air before eventually settling. On either side of the road, only miles of corn fields could be seen with the occasional farmhouse to break up the monotony. The car’s sole occupant, Tony Stark, had the music turned all the way up so that everything was drowned out, including his own thoughts. Not that there was a lot to think about anyway with such stimulating surroundings. So far, he was very unimpressed by Nebraska, and found himself starting to miss the towering skyscrapers of New York.

The car then began to swerve suddenly, so with a curse Tony pulled to the side of the dirt road. Once the car was in park, he stepped out and noticed the back-left tire was flat. Upon investigating he found he had run over a nail somewhere along the way, because of course he did. To make matters worse he didn’t have a spare. After a moment of thought, he decided he had two options; either wait by the car and hope someone drove by soon or walk to the nearest town. However, there was no telling how far away a town could be. Too impatient and restless to wait idly he quickly made up his mind to find a town, so he started walking down the road in the same direction he’d been driving.

The mid-day sun was much less merciful without the air-conditioned interior of the car and much to his chagrin Tony started to sweat mere minutes into his trek. Plus, every step kicked up a small cloud of dust that coated his jeans and shoes in dirt. Now he was really starting to dislike Nebraska.

Sometime later the sound of something traveling quickly along the dirt road came from behind Tony, and it obviously wasn’t a car. Tony turned to watch as a horse galloped closer with its lone rider. Once they were close enough, the rider slowed the horse’s pace until it was merely walking before stopping completely. The rider, a boy who looked to be near Tony’s age, with dark wind-swept hair that curled around his ears, studied Tony with blue-green eyes.

“I’m assuming that broken down car back there is yours.” The rider said with a bemused twitch to his cupid bow lips.

“No, I’m just walking out here for fun,” Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “Of course it is.”

“Hasn’t anybody ever told you to travel with a spare?”

“Look, I don’t live in the middle of nowhere like you, cowboy. I live in a city where it’s easy to get service for a flat tire.”

“I’m not a cowboy,” the other answered while rolling his eyes. “Now would you like me to help you get to town or would you rather continue walking?”

Tony eyed the horse warily. “I’d prefer not to walk,” he said after a moment.

“Alright,” the other boy responded before dismounting. Tony was a little disappointed to discover that the other was quite a few inches taller than him, so he still had to look up to make eye contact. The boy held out his hand, “I’m Stephen Strange, by the way.”

“Tony Stark,” he shook the offered hand and was pleased that Stephen’s only reaction to his name was to blink.“And is that seriously your name?”

“You think I would just make that up?”

Tony shrugged, “who knows, people do weird things, or should I say strange things.”

“Gee never heard that one before.” Stephen huffed before turning back to his horse, “now I’m assuming you’ve never ridden before.”

“Never even touched a horse.”

“Alright well, no need to worry. Holliday here is gentle.” Stephen patted the horse’s dark flank affectionately.

“Holliday?”

“You know, like Doc Holliday.”

“Okay, but why?”

“I don’t know, his previous owners named him that and I never changed it. Now stop stalling, I promise you’ll be fine.” Stephen held out his hand to Tony with a grin. Tony stared into those earnest blue-green eyes and once again placed his hand in Stephen’s. Maybe there was something redeemable about Nebraska after all.

Stephen helped Tony into the large western saddle before climbing up himself. He sat in front of Tony and took the reins in hand. Stephen couldn’t help but find it amusing when Tony gripped his waist tightly when Holliday began to walk. He slowly eased the horse into a faster pace so as not to startle the shorter boy further. After a few moments of riding Tony’s grip loosened but didn’t let go of Stephen completely.

“What are you doing out in the ‘middle of nowhere Nebraska’ anyway?” Stephen asked after a moment, and Tony could just hear the air quotes.

“Just passing through on my way to California.”

“By yourself?”

“Yep,” Tony answered simply. He and Rhodey had actually planned this road trip together and had meant to stay in California for a couple of weeks before driving back to the east coast. Though just days before they were supposed to go, Rhodey ended up needing to stay behind for work. Rhodey had apologized and promised Tony that they’d be able to go on a trip some other time. Tony had merely waved him off, and days later set out on his own. There was no point in wasting their plans, and it was a good excuse to get away from his parents, especially his father.

“Sounds lonely,” Stephen commented, breaking Tony out of his thoughts.

“Says the one out here riding his horse along a lonely dirt road through corn fields.” Tony answered, and it came out more defensively than he had meant it to.

Stephen merely shrugged, “yeah, but I do this every day.”

“That bored huh?”

“Only sometimes.” It was silent for a couple of moments. Then, with a sly grin over his shoulder, directed at Tony, Stephen nudged the horse in the side to get him to gallop. Tony made a noise of surprise and gripped Stephen tighter.

“Would you cut it out!” He shouted. Usually, Tony did not mind going fast, was exhilarated even, but he did not enjoy going fast when it felt like he was about to bounce off at any second and tumble over the back of the horse. Stephen slowed the horse down after another moment.

“Sorry,” he said but did not sound even slightly apologetic. “I don’t know what happened, Holliday just does what he wants sometimes.”

“Bullshit,” Tony protested, “that was all you!”

“Maybe, but you’ll never truly know, will you?” Stephen responded, and Tony grumbled a bit. Tony then noticed that Stephen had turned off onto another dirt road; however, this dirt road didn’t appear to be leading to a town. It looked to be a driveway. Now Tony was starting to think that getting on a horse with a stranger wasn’t actually the wisest decision. Even if that stranger was kind of cute.

“Where are we going?” Tony asked, peering over the taller boy’s shoulder, which made him lean into him.

“Don’t lean over so far,” Stephen admonished and let go of the reins with his right hand to gently elbow Tony into backing off. Tony did back off, if only to get Stephen to hold the reins with two hands again. “And we’re going to my house,” Stephen explained, “so I can get the truck because I’m not going to ride Holliday into town.”

“Makes sense.” Tony commented as he turned his attention to the farm. The farmhouse was two stories and painted white though the paint appeared to be chipping off the wood paneling. Brown shutters adorned the windows. A red brick chimney stuck out of the grey shingled roof. A porch wrapped around the front of the house, decorated with pots of brightly colored flowers, and a wind chime tinkled in the slight breeze. Tony had to admit that the place looked cozier and more inviting than any place he’d ever lived. He quickly banished those thoughts.

Behind the house, a field of corn grew, which Tony was getting real tired of seeing. Though there appeared to be other crops growing that of course Tony couldn’t name. They were merely green plants to him. There was also a lake off in the distance, and two horses grazed in a pasture not too far away from it. The clucking of chickens came from somewhere.

Tony’s attention was brought back to Stephen as he halted the horse near the brown barn. Tony slid off the horse, not letting Stephen offer to help, but of course his dismount was a lot less graceful. Stephen led the horse closer to the barn before tying its reins loosely around part of the fence.

“Stay here, I’ll be back soon. Also, whatever you do, don’t walk behind Holliday,” Stephen instructed. “He’ll probably kick you if you do.”

“Wait, what? Are you serious?” Tony demanded but at this point Stephen had walked away. Tony eyed the horse warily while edging away slowly. He stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, just looking around while waiting for Stephen to return. A young boy played by the house with a black and white dog, and somewhere above his head on the barn roof, a weather vane creaked.

Finally, Stephen exited the house with a younger girl accompanying him. The girl’s hair was a lighter shade of brown than Stephen’s own, and she was much shorter than Stephen. Even shorter than Tony. As the two approached, Tony could see that the girl had the same blue-green eyes that Stephen had. They were related then.

Stephen made the introduction, “Tony, this is my younger sister, Donna. Donna, this is Tony Stark.”

“Nice to meet you,” Donna said warmly, with a wide grin on her face, as she shook Tony’s hand.

“Wow, you have much better manners than your brother,” Tony told her before glancing at Stephen with a raised eyebrow.

“I get that a lot,” she responded, also looking at Stephen, but with a teasing grin.

Stephen huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes, well anyway, you’ve got a job to do,” he told Donna while gesturing towards Holliday, who was still tied to the fence.

“Yeah, yeah. Take his tack off, groom him and put him out in the pasture. But you owe me, Steph!” She pointed a finger at him, lips pulling down into a frown.

“Yes, I know. I’ll do the dishes for you tomorrow or something.” He held out his hand, “deal?”

“Next two nights,” she countered.

“Fine, the next two nights,” Stephen relented.

“Deal then,” Donna announced cheerfully, and the siblings shook hands. Donna then went towards Holliday while Stephen gestured for Tony to follow him. For a moment Tony couldn’t decide if he wished he had a sibling or not but inevitably gave up on figuring out the answer.

Tony followed Stephen to the other side of the barn where an old, beat up, blue pick-up truck sat. Stephen unlocked the truck and Tony climbed into the passenger seat. Stephen slowly drove the truck out onto the driveway and waved back to Donna as they passed. He then pulled out onto the road and went in the direction they were going in before their brief stop. Tony mused that if he hadn’t gotten that flat tire he would have driven past the Strange farm without a second thought.

“How far do you live from town?” Tony asked once he was done messing with the air vents, so the AC blew in his face.

“About fifteen minutes.” Stephen glanced at Tony with an amused expression before focusing back on the road, “you were never going to make it just by walking.”

“I would have eventually.”

“Maybe after a few hours.” They came to a four way stop, and while they were stopped Stephen leaned over and pulled an object out from under the seat. He handed the object over to Tony before making sure it was safe to go. Tony turned the object over in his hand, it was a cassette tape. It made sense considering the truck was a model from the early seventies which made it too old to have a CD player, unlike Tony’s fairly new car.

“Why’d you hide this under the seat?” Tony asked curiously as he put the cassette into the tape deck.

“To hide it from my father,” Stephen admitted, and Tony could relate to that. The first song started playing, and Tony couldn’t help but look at Stephen with an unimpressed expression.

“Really?”

Stephen glanced at him confused. “What? It’s Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen, 1978.”

Tony scoffed. “Well I knew that, cowboy.”

“Hey, don’t call me that,” Stephen protested, “and this is a good song.”

“Sure, it’s just not my type of music.”

“Then what do you like?”

“AC/DC.”

“Well, I definitely don’t have any of that.” Stephen said, his nose scrunching up, which Tony noted was kind of adorable.

“What? Too intense for you, country boy?” He asked with a patronizing tone.

Stephen gave him a quick glare. “No, it’s just not my kind of music,” Stephen responded, throwing Tony’s words back in his face. “Also, a country boy is worse than a cowboy, but for the record I hate being called both.”

“Dully noted,” Tony replied flatly. After driving for a few more minutes the town came into view, and just as Tony expected it was a worn down, podunk town. It didn’t take long after that to reach the town limits and to start slowly driving down the main street, which at least was paved. Stephen eventually made a left turn and drove down a smaller street before pulling into a parking lot. He parked the truck in front of the mechanics.

“Well thanks for the help.” Tony said as he opened the truck door.

“You’re welcome,” Stephen responded. “Bye,” he added, and his farewell came out a bit hesitant. Tony waved before turning to the mechanics and walked through the door. He talked to the lady at the front desk and got a tow truck called. When the tow truck came, Tony went out to meet it, and Stephen’s truck was gone.

It took over an hour to get his car back to the mechanics. It took almost half an hour to drive to where it was still parked, then it had to be hooked up and then driven another half hour back. Yet by the time they returned a familiar blue truck was once again in the parking lot. Tony couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he walked back over to it and leaned against the driver’s side to speak to Stephen through the open window.

“Stephen, what are you still doing here?”

The other’s eyes widened, and he looked like a kid who’d got caught doing something he shouldn’t. “Uh, well, it’ll take some time to get new tires, so I thought maybe you’d like some company. We could get something to eat.”

“I think you just like having me around, Strange.” Tony said teasingly with a grin.

Stephen’s face flushed, “no, I just… don’t have anything else to do right now.” He finished lamely.

“Sure, you don’t, but alright. Just let me get this straightened out first.” Tony walked back inside the building and asked for all the tires to be replaced, not trusting that any of them were in good condition after those horrible dirt roads. Also, to give him and Stephen more time. The task completed Tony exited the building and climbed back into the truck. “So where to now, cowboy?” He asked, and Stephen just sighed, having given up on stopping Tony from calling him that.

“The diner.” He replied and pulled the car out on the road. The drive was less than five minutes, but still allowed Tony to see more of the town. The cassette tape continued to softly play in the background.

Once they arrived at the dinner they found a table inside and a waitress soon came over to give them menus and take their drink orders.

“So, is this the only place to eat in town?” Tony asked once they were alone again.

“No,” Stephen scoffed, “we’ve got four places.”

“Wow, so many choices,” Tony mocked. “Is one of those places McDonald’s?”

Stephen pulled a face, “of course.”

“Huh, this place is more advanced than I thought.” The waitress then returned with their drinks and took their orders.

“Well what about you? How many restaurants are there where you’re from?” Stephen asked, continuing the conversation.

“Too many to count considering I’m from Manhattan.”

“Oh,” Stephen was silent for a moment before asking quietly, “what’s it like?”

Startled by the change in the other’s demeanor Tony didn’t fully comprehend the question, “what’s what like?”

“The big city, what’s it like?” Stephen clarified.

“Oh, well,” Tony sat back in the booth, “everything’s a lot bigger of course, busier, and a lot louder. This place is almost eerily quiet in comparison.”

Stephen nodded, “it must be nice to not have everyone know each other and know each other’s business.”

“For normal people, yeah, I’m sure it’s nice.” Tony shrugged and took a sip of his coke.

Stephen stared at him for a long moment, head tilted slightly to the side. A look of realization crossed his face, “oh right. You’re supposedly a celebrity.”

“What do you mean supposedly?” Tony demanded, and Stephen just grinned at him.

Their food was delivered shortly after, and a comfortable silence fell between them while they ate. Which eventually Stephen broke, “I’m going to get out of this small town, you know.” Tony paused mid-chew, giving his full attention to the other boy. “In a few months I’m going to college in New York then I’ll go to med school. I’ll become a doctor and just watch, I’ll be famous and the top of my field.” By the time he was done speaking, there was a fire in those blue-green eyes and Stephen’s face was set in a determined expression.

Tony had to admire the other’s ambition, “I hope it works out.” He responded after a moment, unsure of what else to say.

Stephen relaxed and sat farther back in the booth. “Thank you.”

For a moment Tony was almost jealous that Stephen already knew what he was doing and had a goal. Tony had already graduated from MIT two years previous, and yet what was he doing? Nothing really. The only thing that seemed set in stone about his future was that someday he would inherit Stark Industries, but who knew when that would happen. Tony pushed these thoughts away and focused back on the present.

They continued to talk for awhile and eventually the waitress left the bill on the table. Tony reached for it, but Stephen was quick to grab the bill before Tony could even touch it.

“I can pay for dinner.” He said and leaned over to try and take it from Stephen.

“So can I,” Stephen said, holding the bill out of reach before standing up to go over to the cash register. Tony followed with a sigh, and as he waited for Stephen to pay, a pile of brightly colored flyers on the counter caught his attention. He took the top most one and looked it over as they left the diner.

“We should probably get you back to your car.” Stephen said as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the truck.

“Then we can go to this fair,” Tony responded, holding up the flyer.

Stephen’s eyes lit up, but a confused expression crossed his face, “but don’t you need to leave?”

“Oh, so now you want to get rid of me?”

“No, I mean, I just thought you’d want to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“A couple more hours here won’t kill me,” Tony explained with a shrug, “and I can make up the lost time tomorrow. Besides this place is kind of starting to grow on me. ”Well more like one specific person. This caused Stephen’s cupid bow lips to lift in a blinding smile. It made Tony’s heart flutter, but he ignored the feeling. They once again got in the blue truck and headed towards the mechanics.

Once there Tony went inside to pay for the tires and retrieve his keys. The task completed he finally got into his own car and began following Stephen to the fair ground.

The fair was a couple miles out of town in a cleared-out field, and he had seen in the flyer that it was put-on every year by a few of the local churches in the area. As far as fairs went it wasn’t the most impressive Tony had ever seen though it still managed to have a few rides, games and food vendors. It was likely the best this place could do and, as evident from the number of people in attendance, it was a beloved tradition.

Stephen and Tony parked where indicated and got in the line to enter. “I’ll pay,” Tony informed Stephen as they got close to the ticket booth.

It was clear the taller boy’s pride was hurt as he went to protest, “But-”

“Nope.” Tony cut him off. “You already paid for dinner and take this as my thank you for today.”

Stephen still looked put out but agreed with a terse, “alright.” So, Tony paid for the entrance fees and tickets to go on rides and play games. He handed half over to Stephen, and tickets in hand, they entered the fair.

“So, what should we do first?” Stephen asked, glancing around.

Tony glanced around as well, and the few game booths nearby caught his attention. “I bet I could win more prizes than you,” he teasingly said pointing out the games.

“Is that so?” Stephen raised an eyebrow at him and crossed his arms over his chest. Tony just smirked and started making his way over to the nearest game booth with Stephen close on his heels. They arrived at the ring toss and Tony handed over the required tickets in exchange for five rings. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to throw a single ring around the neck of a bottle.

“Wow, that was impressive.” Stephen commented, which earned him an elbow to the side. Stephen ignored that, and nudged Tony out of the way. He handed over tickets for five rings as well and didn’t manage to land a ring on a bottle either.

“And you made fun of me.”

“It’s probably rigged.” Stephen grumbled.

“Sure it is.” Tony shrugged and the two went over to the next game, which happened to be throwing baseballs at a stack of bottles. Tony once again missed completely with his three tries while Stephen managed to knock over the top most bottle but not the entire stack which wasn’t enough to earn him a prize.

“This is ridiculous,” Stephen huffed as they turned away from the booth, “how can we both be so bad at this?”

“Maybe because neither of us are athletic.” Tony answered, and Stephen opened his mouth to argue the point before shutting it quickly. He breathed out heavily through his nose instead. “Come on, neither of us has won anything yet, lets keep going.”

“We’re going to waste all of our tickets at this rate,” Stephen pointed out.

“Then we can just buy more.” Tony shrugged. “Besides, I think I just found one that’s winnable.” He led Stephen over to the next booth. All they had to do was bounce a ping pong ball into one of the small bowls of water. It was like beer pong but with a larger target, and well Tony has spent a considerable amount of time playing beer pong.

Tony gestured for Stephen to go first which caused the other roll his eyes but smiled slightly as he stepped up to the booth. When Stephen didn’t get a ping pong ball into any of the bowls, Tony patted his shoulder and smirked. “Watch and learn.” He took the three balls after handing over the tickets. He missed the first shot and heard Stephen scoff behind him. He narrowed his eyes and threw the second one, this time the ping pong ball landed in a bowl and it bobbed on the surface of the water.

“Ha! I win!” He exclaimed and turned back to Stephen, who just rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively though a smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. Tony turned back to the game and his next throw managed to land in a bowl as well. He smirked at Stephen.

“Here’s your prize,” the guy working at the booth said, and Tony turned back around.

“Oh . . . thanks.” He said hesitantly, as he accepted the bag of water with a little goldfish swimming around inside. He figured that he should have thought through what prize he was winning.

“Hey, do you want this?” He asked Stephen, holding out the bag. “I can’t bring it with me.”

Stephen regarded the bag for a moment before accepting it. “Sure, I could give it to my little brother Victor.”

Tony figured that must have been the little boy he saw playing with the dog near the farmhouse. He nodded. “So, rides now?”

“Yep,” Stephen agreed, “we can go on my favorite.” He grabbed Tony’s arm and started leading him through the crowd to the other side of the fair where the rides were located. They got in line for the tilt-a-whirl and didn’t have to wait long before getting to go on the ride.

Once they were done with the tilt-a-whirl they went to the next line over which was for the spinning teacups. As soon as the ride started, Tony gripped the wheel in the center and started spinning it as fast as he could, and with a laugh Stephen joined him. This of course led to neither of them being able to walk or see straight once they got off, so they stumbled over to a bench and sat there for some time as they waited for the world to stop spinning so fast.

Once they were ready they stood up, and Stephen pointed at the tallest ride in the fair. “Do you want to go on the Ferris wheel?”

Tony snorted, “that’s kind of cliché, don’t you think?”

“Then we don’t have to do it,” Stephen huffed and crossed his arms defensively.

“No, no, it’s fine. Let’s do it.” Tony assured, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. So, the two made their way over to the Ferris wheel and after waiting in line for a few minutes they handed over their tickets before getting on the ride.

For the first time that day with Stephen, Tony felt a little awkward. He put his hands on the lap bar but ended up partially covering Stephen’s hand. The two quickly moved their hands away and Stephen ended up fidgeting with the bag containing the fish.

“You know,” Stephen started, breaking the silence that had fallen between them, “I’m glad you got that flat tire.”

At this point they were at the top of the wheel, and the ride stopped to let others on. The clear sky, filled with stars, stretched out above them. Tony had never seen so many.

“So am I,” Tony answered, “this town’s alright, and I’m glad I met you.”

Stephen smiled at him brightly, eyes silver in the lighting. “I’m glad I met you too.”

Soon after the wheel started turning again. They went around a few more times, not saying much, merely enjoying the summer night and each other’s company.

They got off the Ferris wheel and Tony sighed knowing that it was about time he should leave, the warm feeling in his chest fading a little. He started heading in the direction of the parking lot with Stephen following him.

“Where are we going now?”

“It’s late and I should probably leave.”

“Oh,” Stephen responded, and Tony could hear the disappointment in the other’s voice. They didn’t say much as they left the fair and made it to their cars. They reached Tony’s car and stood behind it, facing each other, unsure of what to say.

“I had a lot of fun today.” Tony said after a moment.

Stephen smiled at him. “Me too.” Then he seemed to get an idea, he told Tony to wait and then went back to his car to grab something. When he returned, he was no longer holding the fish but had a pen. “Give me your arm.” Tony did so and watched as Stephen wrote a number on it. “There,” Stephen announced finished writing the last number, “now you can call me, and on your way back to New York you should stop by here again for a day.” In the lights from the fair, Tony could see the blush on Stephen’s high cheekbones.

“Sure.” Tony said, then held out his hand. “bye then.”

Stephen shook his hand, “bye.”

Tony got in his car and Stephen moved so that Tony could back out of the parking space. As Tony slowly drove out of the parking lot, he glanced back at Stephen in the rearview mirror and saw that the other was waving. Tony looked for a moment longer before focusing back on the road.

He drove for an hour to reach the next town over that night before checking into a cheap motel. It wasn’t where he had been planning to stay that night, but the plan was completely off now thanks to his extended detour.

After entering one of the small rooms and throwing his bag on the bed he made his way to the bathroom to take a shower. After a while of just standing under the hot spray, Tony looked down at the number written on his arm. A bit faded now thanks to the water. He then began scrubbing it until nothing remained. The day had been fun and one he’d look on back on fondly, but that’s where he decided it needed to remain, in the past.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. 
> 
> If you want you can find me on my tumblr @too-much-time-in-space


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